Territorial A-Z

Journey from Massachusetts to KansasAuthors:Allen, Chestina BowkerDate: October 17, 1854 - April 22, 1858Chestina Bowker Allen traveled to Kansas Territory from Roxbury, Massachusetts, with her husband Asahel Gilbert Allen and five children--William, Charles, Henrietta, John, and Abbie. Apparently, they were members of the third company sent by the New England Emigrant Aid Company and began the journey to Kansas Territory in October, 1854. While the title indicated it recorded the journey to the territory, it actually documented their first three years in Kansas Territory. Mrs. Allen described their journey west with stops in Kansas City and Lawrence. They eventually settled near Rock Creek in Pottawatomie County. She wrote about many of her daily activities including assisting neighbors when ill. She mentioned a cholera epidemic in the area in 1855. She wrote about various rumors and encounters with free state supporters (which the Allen family was) and proslavery groups. She provided a great deal of information about living conditions and the price and availability of various goods. She wrote about her husband and older sons going to various communities to work and also about people that visited their home and those who boarded with them. She provided fairly stereotypical descriptions of Native Americans.The document appeared to be recopied from an original diary and included some penciled in corrections and a few annotations from a later time.

Keywords:Census; Conway, Martin Franklin; Dyer, S. D.; Independence Emigrant Road; Pottawatomie County, Kansas TerritoryTerritorial Census, 1855, District 11Authors:Twombly, B. H. Date: January-February, 1855This census was taken in order to determine eligible voters for elections to be held as proclaimed by Governor Andrew Reeder on November 10, 1854. The categories for information in the census were name, occupation, age, male, female, emigrated from, native of United States, naturalized citizen, declarant (intention to become a citizen), Negro, slave, and voter. Only white males over 21 were eligible to vote. The districts used for the census were the same as the election districts. A statistical summary of the census and alphabetical list of votes follows the enumeration pages of District 12. For District 11, the place of election was the Trading house of Marshall and Woodward at Marysville. The boundaries of each district were described in Governor Reeder's proclamation and it is difficult to determine what counties were in each district. The description of the Eleventh District follows: "Commencing at Vermillion River in the middle of the Independence emigrant road; thence up said river to the head of the main branch; thence due north to the northern line of the Territory; thence by the same to the middle of the Independence emigrant road; thence down said road, crossing the Big Blue by the old route below Marysville to the place of beginning." The assessor gave a detailed description of the land where the people resided on the back of the page where they were listed and drew a map detailing the land included in District 11 and 12.

Keywords:Census; Independence Emigrant Road; Marshall County, Kansas Territory; Nemaha County, Kansas Territory; Pottawatomie County, Kansas Territory; Trading Post of Marshall and Woodward; Twombly, B. H.Territorial Census, 1855, District 12Authors:Twombly, B. H. Date: January-February, 1855This census was taken in order to determine eligible voters for elections to be held as proclaimed by Governor Andrew Reeder on November 10, 1854. The categories for information in the census were name, occupation, age, male, female, emigrated from, native of United States, naturalized citizen, declarant (intention to become a citizen), Negro, slave, and voter. Only white males over 21 were eligible to vote. The districts used for the census were the same as the election districts. A statistical summary of the census and alphabetical list of votes follows the enumeration pages. For District 12, the place of election was the house of R. C. Miller. The boundaries of each district were described in Governor Reeder's proclamation and it is difficult to determine what counties were in each district. The description of the Twelfth District follows: "Commencing at the mouth of Soldier's Creek; thence up said creek to the head of the main branch; thence due north to the northern line of the Territory; thence by the same west to the eastern line of the Eleventh District; thence south along the same to the head of the Vermillion River and down said river to the mouth thereof; thence down the north bank of the Kansas River to the place of beginning." The assessor gave a detailed description of the land where the people resided on the back of the page where they were listed and drew a map detailing the land included in District 11 and 12.

The current URL is http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/~imlskto/cgi-bin/index.php?SCREEN=keyword&selected_keyword=Pottawatomie%20County,%20Kansas%20Territory&sort_by=true&submit=Go&allresults=1.
This file was last modified September 12 2013 04:09:26 PM.